The Berkshire Eagle: Pittsfield: Survey to help provide food aid
The Pittsfield Public Schools, with support from the Shah Family Foundation, announce a new effort to gather information about federal food aid for the local community.
Over 580,000 students across Massachusetts received federal aid over the past year through the Pandemic EBT program, which provides cash assistance for food purchases during the pandemic, and 360,000 of those students got P-EBT on P-EBT cards.
The Shah Family Foundation estimates that as many as half of those families — including hundreds in Pittsfield — may be eligible for additional federal benefits through the SNAP program but are not currently receiving them. Whereas P-EBT is a temporary program to respond to the pandemic, SNAP benefits provide more stable, long-term support.
To address this “SNAP gap,” the Shah Family Foundation is partnering with school districts across the state on a survey that will identify barriers to accessing SNAP benefits and inform outreach and policy efforts to address them. The survey will be 5-10 minutes long, can be completed online, and available in six languages (Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Cape Verdean, Chinese, and English).
Pittsfield Public Schools will be sending information about the survey to the entire school community this week and encourages everyone to participate. Those who complete the survey will be entered into a raffle to win one of four $50 VISA gift cards.